


Junkyard Nymphs

by priestessamy



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Rock Band, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-01 05:27:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18329543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/priestessamy/pseuds/priestessamy
Summary: It's a band AU! Max and Kate meet at university and form a YouTube duo. Chloe makes a punk band with her friend Rachel and their classmate Victoria. All roads lead to LA, and sometimes fame requires teaming up and making compromises.





	1. Chapter 1

Portland. City of the weird. A glorious and wonderful place. Max thought she couldn't be any more excited. Then she met her college roommate. Kate was absolutely precious, almost unbelievably so. Her CV was a mile long, filled with all kinds of community service and charitable behavior. And unlike Max, who was studying guitar like every other hipster in the pacific northwest, she was a violinist.

It all started pretty simply. Like any other music school kid, they enjoyed playing together in their free time, and found a pretty amazing rhythm with one another. It took a while to convince Kate to let her record them when they played together. In the end, they had to come up with pseudonyms, to make sure her family couldn't find them easily.

“Okay, so... religious family. The obvious answer is to go with something mythical.”

She visibly relaxed, warming up to the idea. “Well, that should only take a few thousand years to comb through for the right ones.” She giggled brightly at that, and Max quickly joined in.

“Lucky for you, I can at least start with a hefty culling. My hometown was named Arcadia Bay, so I was thinking something in the realm of Greek mythology?”

Kate nodded, then turned to her laptop and began tearing through Wikipedia. “Arcadia, that's... Pan, right? Ah! Perfect. Syrinx and... Echo!” The grin of pride she wore was as brilliant as the sun.

“Woah, how did you come up with those so fast??”

“They're two nymphs, both of whom denied Pan's... ah... advances. Neither of us is exactly interested in men, so it feels... appropriate.” Damn, the girl nailed it. Max was gay as hell and Kate was 'something' to quote her own phrasing. “And he's a very... masculine sort of god. A-Anyway, what do you think?”

“I think you're a freaking genius!” she replied, wrapping her arms tight around her friend and squeezing her gently.

* * *

Sweaty and sore, Chloe hauled the last box into the apartment and stood back up, cracking her back with an exasperated sigh. “If I had known moving sucked so hard, I would never have agreed to going to LA.”

Nearby, Victoria was idly running her hand along a portion of the wall that was looking a little... worn out. “Yeah, and if I had known our new home was going to be quite this squalid, I would have insisted on doing the apartment hunting.”

“Would you all just give it like... five minutes and chill out?? We're out of small-town nowhere and living in the coolest city in the United States! We're gonna be famous someday, and it all starts right here. When we're in our gorgeous mansion living it up, you're gonna look back at this and laugh~” She winked playfully at Victoria. “Now! I think we need to address a rather serious issue that we have been, up til this point, ignoring.”

Chloe's eyebrow instantly went up. “Woah, so serious. What's this all about?”

“Our name. We need a better one.”

That called up a chorus of groans. The original discussion of what to call the band had been a rather cutthroat affair. They had gone back and forth about the issue for what seemed like a full year. At one point they were The Spiral, for a few notorious days they were Arcadia Gay, they spent a few months as Flutterby, Merde Supply, The Ravens, Fawnd of You, and several others.

“Just... Okay? I've been sitting on a great one, but we couldn't really use it as long as we were living there. Okay, wait for it... American Rust!” She looked insanely proud of herself.

Chloe glanced over at Victoria, both of them simultaneously making the same face. Ones that conveyed a sense of 'yeah, not bad'. “I'll be damned, Amber. I don't hate it” Victoria muttered with a smirk.

“Yeah, that's... Shit, wow, I never realized the name is actually pretty badass when you remove it from context.” Jumping a bit in place, she clapped her hands a few times. “Shit, I'm all jazzed now! We should rehearse!”

* * *

Kate bowed the final series of notes, her finger trembling slightly to give the tone a bit more flavor. She took a moment to just enjoy the song as Max plucked a few more notes, then hit her final chord. It had been one of their better tunes, and she hoped desperately that they would get a big break soon. Granted, at first, she'd been thrilled just to have their thirty followers. But now that they were up in the thousands, things were hitting a bit of a plateau. And despite having once been a humble girl from a humble family, she found herself craving more limelight.

They fired off their usual 'farewell' and shut off the camera. Max gave a contented sigh and looked back at her excitedly. “I dunno, I think that might just be the one, ya know?”

Kate was fairly certain that Max had said this pretty much every time. The sheer power of her overwhelming optimism was hard to fight. She smiled back at her and untucked her violin from her shoulder and chin. “I really hope so. I'm kinda getting used to all this.”

“If I'm being honest, I'm mostly just jealous of my friend Chloe. We're doing good, but she gets to play in front of legit live audiences! The closest we can get is like... performances here at school, usually just in front of professors and all.” She started to deconstruct all of their mics and things, when suddenly an idea light up her face as if there was a literal lightbulb over her head. “Hey. When we graduate. Let's go to LA! We can keep doing the channel, but there will be a million more opportunities to do actual performances. Places to do legit recordings. Everything!”

Kate's heartbeat quickly doubled. Graduation wasn't all that far away, but it wasn't exactly close either. She needed a plan, but she had been assuming that at some point she and Max would disband the channel and go their separate ways. But talking about this kind of stuff was exciting and also very terrifying. She was eager to just say yes and start making crazy plans for the future. But she had never been one for making huge leaps blindly. “...you... really wanna do that?”

“Of course!” Good lord, did anybody ever have the nerve required to tell this girl no? “I can just picture it. The lights, the cheering, the pounding noise... I'd get to see Chloe again... We could make money and find our voices and maybe become actual stars!”

It seemed criminal, blasphemous, to shoot her down. There was still time to figure out if she preferred a different path she was meant to take. But in the meantime, it was a very fine dream to have indeed. “Yeah, okay. LA sounds pretty amazing when you put it like that.” She helped her put away all of their recording gear, along with their instruments. And already her mind was whirling away with thoughts of moving to the City of Angels. The perfect place for someone like her.

* * *

Victoria strolled into the living room of their apartment in time to see Chloe firing up a video chat with her friend up in Portland. While she couldn't necessarily find much energy to care about that, there was one thing that caught her attention. Max had a friend, her other half in their little indie duo, Kate. And while Victoria had only shared maybe a handful of words with her, she had to admit that the girl intrigued her.

So, with absolutely no decent excuse waiting in the wings, she flopped down next to Chloe and leaned over so she could get a proper glance at the screen. “Hey Max, hey Kate~” Ugh, could a girl be any thirstier?? Why did her voice have to shift like that just because she was saying her name?? Victoria decided to quickly pivot and focus on a more specific topic. “So did I hear that right? You guys are thinking about moving down here?”

“Oh, well, I mean originally it was just kind of a pipe dream thing...” Max muttered, looking curiously bashful. Kate reached over and gently rubbed her back. And against all sense, Victoria felt a tiny bit jealous. “Except the closer we get to graduating, the more things are falling into place. Our parents are scared but they seem to understand at least. We've been able to find some decent places to live. All of our subscribers seem happy for us. So it's kinda... becoming real.”

Chloe looked just as hyped, and Victoria smiled knowingly. Neither of them were exactly being... subtle, really. Sure, Chloe was a puppy who bounded around with infinite energy, and Victoria was a cat who pretended to not care about anything. But they were different means to the same obvious end.

“Dude! This is so badass! Augh, we can show you around and take you to all the coolest spots. Oh! We can go to the pier and... Ooh! We should absolutely play together!”

Rachel was draped across a nearby couch in her usual way, but at that she started to chuckle softly. “Seems like a tall order, given our uh... differing styles. Then again... Hm, I guess it's something to think about.” She slipped off and got up to her feet, stretching slightly. “I'm actually feeling like getting myself a coffee. Back in a bit, darlings~”

This was a thing that happened frequently. Rachel Amber was a great bandmate and... at least occasionally, a decent friend. But she was also very much her own person, and more than anybody else, she had a tendency to go running off into the city on some random adventure. They were plenty used to it by now. “Have fun, don't die!”

“No promises~”

* * *

Rachel loved her friends dearly, and she was beyond thrilled that the band had made it down to LA. Bu she was also a restless person and sometimes she just had a desperate need to get some pavement under her feet. Besides, Chloe and Victoria were so obvious about their own needs that it kind of bummed her out. Practically half of Syrinx and Echo's subscribers shipped them, and there was no way in hell Max wasn't banging that adorable Kate girl. She was terrified to be there when that hammer finally dropped and her friends had to face the reality of their prospective romances.

So. Coffee seemed like a good way to get the hell out of there. There was a precious little cafe not too far from the apartment, and the weather was gorgeous. With her black coffee in hand, she got herself a seat and began idly messing with her phone. That was when she started to hear it. Nearby a pair of girls were sitting and chatting – one of them kind of mousy, the other wearing a beanie and a flannel.

“What are you talking about you don't just go up to these people and say hello! That's a quick trip to getting yourself blacklisted as a creeper...”

“Nobody's going to call you a creeper just for saying 'hi, I love your music' and maybe asking for a autograph or whatever. It's fine. Do iiitttt~”

“You're not gonna let this drop, are you?”

“I am not. Now go.”

Finally, beanie girl stood up from her table and began to approach. Rachel held her breath. There wasn't much of a chance they were even talking about her. LA was full of 'famous' people. Every fifth person you met was 'famous' in some way or another. But... no, she stopped fright in front of her table and began idly messing with a notebook. “Um... hey.”

Well, this was unexpected. Rachel turned off her phone and took a quick sip from her coffee before bringing her full attention on the other girl. “Well hey there. What can I do for you?”

She cleared her throat and nearly fumbled her precious treasure. “Hey. Shit, I already said hey. Uh. So I'm a big fan of American Rust. And... like especially you? Your voice is awesome, a-and Punch Me With Your Lips was just the best song.”

“I wrote that one~” she mused softly. “I'm very proud of it...”

“Yeah, I know, I remember you mentioning it at a concert. Um! Anyway. So I was kinda hoping that maybe I could get an autograph? I don't really have anything else on me so maybe you could just knock one out in my sketchbook?” She extended it to her cautiously with a pen clipped on it.

Not wishing to crush this poor dear's heart, she took it from her with a warm smile. She started to flip through it, catching sight of a few really good ones as she searched for a blank page. “Woah, these are great.”

“Oh, pft, no you can just ignore those. I'm still working on my style. It's not my best work.”

“Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. If you're good, you should feel you've earned the right to accept it. Ah, here~” She finally found an open page and thought momentarily about what to write. Sure, she could just put a signature and leave it at that. But she was cute and Rachel liked to push her luck every now and again. “Who am I making this out to?”

“Oh! Stephanie. Steph. Just Steph.”

Giggling, she put the pen to paper. 'Steph, it was a delight to meet you today. Let me know if you'd ever like to learn more about the inspiration and process behind Punch Me With Your Lips.' Then she signed it and added her phone number. She quickly shut the notebook and passed it back to her, making direct eye contact with her. “Steph, promise me you won't look right away. Give it a look when you get on the bus or make it home.”

She nodded dumbly and hurried back to her table with only a softly muttered “thank you...”

In time, Steph and her friend took off and Rachel was able to go back to her coffee and musing. It was maybe ten or fifteen minutes later when her phone lit up. _“uhh hey its steph is this really your phone number”_

Her face split in a wide grin. _“It is. I guess someone couldn't wait to see what I wrote.”_

_“hey give me a break, i clearly had good reason to.”_ After a few seconds, another message came through. _“so this is gonna sound dumb all things considered but do you wanna get coffee some time?”_

 


	2. Chapter 2

“Okay, my girlfriend played something awesome for me and I think it's gonna help us make sense of this~”

Max hadn't known Rachel for all that long, a couple weeks. But it was pretty obvious she'd only just started dating this Steph person shortly before she and Kate arrived in LA. Because she was exactly the kind of woman who would purposefully say the phrase 'my girlfriend' every few hours, just to be sure everyone knew. It was as sweet as it was annoying.

If she were being honest, it was also kind of a huge relief. From all the times Chloe had talked about her bandmates, it gave Max the impression that she was dating one of them. Theoretically this cleared Rachel from that suspicion, which left only Victoria as a potential issue. Which was amusing in its own right, if only because Kate was notoriously bad at hiding her interest in the punk rock princess. And vice versa.

The whole thing was kind of ridiculous, and ultimately the music came first. Max leaned into her guitar a little and listened intently to the music that Rachel was playing for them. It was... actually kind of perfect. The aesthetic was definitely punk, or at least pop-punk. Raucous guitars and slightly atonal singing. And then the violin came in, and despite the difference it made, it wasn't jarring. She glanced over at Kate and grinned.

“Dude, this is great, what is this??” Chloe had a grin that was practically twice as big.

Rachel looked quite proud of herself. “Los Campesinos! Steph really knocked it out of the park with this suggestion.”

“What, we become a cover band for a group who, I'm pretty sure, are still playing? Seems like a good way to get famous for a bad reason...” Victoria idly twirled a drumstick a few times with a little flourish.

Rolling her eyes, Rachel stopped the music that was playing from her little bluetooth speaker, then turned on her bandmate with a sigh. “I know it's your whole deal, but could you _not_ for five seconds? Obviously I'm not talking about playing someone else's stuff. It's just for inspiration! To show that just because we have some disparate styles doesn't mean we can't have a jam session...”

Victoria's gaze moved over to where Kate was sitting, and in spite of herself she began to smile a little. “Well, as long as it's just for inspiration. I refuse to let myself stoop to the level of... ugh, copying. I wanna be original.”

“No need to worry about any of that. Max is a genius and Kate is mad talented. It'll probably be a little awkward at first, but I bet we can make one hell of a cool sound in the end. Now let's do this!” She stood up and adjusted her bass, nodding at the others. “Princess, count us off.”

“One! Two! One two three four!” Victoria tapped the sticks together and then came in with a simple beat. A moment later, Chloe added to it with one of her standard bass riffs.

Rachel glanced in Max's direction and she felt herself charged with energy. “You take rhythm! You're amazing at that~” She started strumming in time with Victoria and quickly found a syncopated rhythm and a chord progression that made sense. “Hell yeah, let's see...” She finally joined in and gave the song some more life before looking toward Kate. “Do iiiiiit! It's gonna be awesome!”

Max could see the telltale signs of Kate's nerves creeping up. She added to Rachel's positive energy. “You know I believe in you. And you can rock a violin like nobody else.”

Her back straightened, and a look of calm passed over her face. Without a word, she tucked the violin up under her chin and started playing. She bowed in a long steady note and then joined everyone in speeding up, fiddling more vigorously.

From there, Max kind of lost track of what happened next. She only knew that it felt absolutely right, even more perfect than the first time she and Kate had a jam session. Even if the two of them weren't completely used to a change in genre, they were fast learners.

Eventually they reached a fairly satisfying ending together, and almost instantly Chloe began bouncing excitedly. Max couldn't help but giggle at how adorable she was being. “More more! Ooh! Let's try some of our songs out! You guys know Punch Me With Your Lips?”

Even Kate was looking pretty amped. “I think we could maybe muddle our way through it~”

“That's what I'm fucking talking about!” Cheered Victoria, who instantly started counting them off.

* * *

Max was pretty surprised to receive an invite to coffee with Rachel Amber. They were basically friends now, and she enjoyed playing with her – one guitarist to another. But it sort of felt like this might have an ulterior motive. Whatever it was, though, she couldn't parse it. Everything was pretty normal at first. They met up, put in their orders, found a table, the usual boring stuff. For a while they just shot the shit about their experiences with art school getting a following.

Out of nowhere, Rachel hit the proverbial brakes hard. “Max, are you and Kate seeing each other?”

Her eyes went wide, reflexively, and she sat back. This was definitely not where she thought this would go. “I'm sorry??”

“It's a simple enough question, girl. Are you two together?”

Finally she managed to wrap her head around what was happening here, at least at the surface level. The 'why' still eluded her. “Are you kidding? Kate's a sweetheart but she's basically the sister I never had. Trust me, we hashed that out ages ago. We had one stupid, drunken kiss at a party freshman year, and that was pretty much it.”

She studied her, scrutinized her, eyes narrow and piercing. “...okay, good.”

Max's head cocked to the side. “Uhhh, you already have a girlfriend?”

“I'm not asking for myself, dummy~” she replied, chiding her with a giggle. “I don't know if you've noticed but Victoria keeps looking at her like she's a big juicy steak.”

“It hadn't escaped my notice...” she offered casually. “So you're just trying to make sure... what, that nothing is going to screw with the group dynamic?”

Rachel was quiet and contemplative for another moment. “Well, that is a secondary concern. But we're also friends and I figure it would be for the best if we give them a little shove. Buuuut I was also asking on behalf of Chloe...”

Okay, well that just complicated the conversation again. “Weird, I didn't see that one coming. You think Chloe is interested in her too?” Asking that question out loud made her chest feel a little tight. God, that would be fucking awful to sit and watch, as both beautiful women fought over her partner. One of whom Max had pretty significant feelings for herself. “That sounds tricky.”

One of Rachel's eyebrows shot up and her lips curled into a handsome smirk. “What?? Pfft, no.” She paused, as if waiting for Max to add something, but she was so lost at this point that she had no clue where to begin. “Oh my god this entire group is nothing but useless lesbians. _You_ and Chloe, Max. I'm talking about you and Chloe.”

Her heart stopped beating and her coffee was quickly growing cold. Was Rachel serious? The two of them had been apart for so many years, they were basically rebuilding their friendship back up from zero. No amount of Skype calls could do what real time together did. Still, Rachel looked so damn sure of herself. “But...”

She just shook her head and threw her hands up defensively. “I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just saying the four of you need to figure out your shit if we're gonna keep playing together and flirting with the idea of making a new band, ya know? Otherwise there's gonna be all this tension and it's just gonna throw the balance of everything into whack. So please promise me you'll at least try and deal with it? After that, we can get famous together and all that awesome shit.”

“Uh... Yeah, I guess um... A-Alright, I'll try. But if this blows up in my face, am I allowed to blame you?”

Whatever her face looked like in that moment, Rachel must have found it amusing because she broke out in bright laughter. Standing up from the table, she moved over smoothly and kissed her gently on the top of her head. “If. But it won't. I'll see you later.” She left, abandoning a dazed Max in her wake.

* * *

“I'm sorry, so on top of imitating like three other bands, you also wanna do a sea shanty? So we can also sound like Flogging Molly at some point? God, were gonna be a mess...”

Max giggled loudly and stretched out across her friend's bed, idly sipping at her beer. She might have had fond memories of stealing a bit of wine when they were kids, but that had mostly been a thrill from the danger. This was way more fun by far. Even if she couldn't get what Rachel had said out of her head. “I'm not-! Oh jeez, why are you guys all so opposed to finding other bands to give us some insight into how to make good music?”

Chloe drained the last of her beer before idly popping the bottle onto her window sill. “Awww, I'm just fucking with you. I think it's a sick idea. I mean I know the others don't totally understand our love of pirates and shit, but I'm sure we can convince them. It'd be awesome...” She was idly staring into the middle distance, then turned her gaze back toward Max. “No surprise there, though. You're awesome. Er, _we're_ awesome. All of us are awesome.”

It was idiotic after a decade and a half of friendship that this was the thing to finally catch her attention. So small and innocent, not laden with any real innuendo or subtext. But she actually heard it, heard something. Sitting up, she looked back at her a little more intently. “Hey, Chlo'. Uh... Tell me if I end up sounding like a drunk dumbass here, but... What do you think would have happened if my family hadn't moved away?”

She shrugged and settled into one end of the bed. Max idly plopped her feet in Chloe's lap, pleased to see that her friend seemed to just be rolling with it. “I dunno, I guess we'd probably still be here in the end. Better at playing together. No Kate, which would suck because she's a nice change of pace.” Again, there was a pause where she seemed to be sorting through her brain for words. “We'd... probably be closer. Better friends, ya know?” Her cheeks were growing red, and Max hated the fact that she had never noticed any of this stuff before.

She started sitting up and shuffling closer to where Chloe was. If there was something to be said here, she couldn't conjure it up. Instead, she just continued to cautiously close the gap between them. Her friend was frozen like a deer in headlights, but she didn't look upset or nervous, just a little cautious in her own right. She was finally up next to her and reaching to take her face in her hands. Chloe was smart, she knew what was about to happen. She would totally stop Max if she didn't want this to happen, right? Still, that ball of anxiety in her chest wasn't letting her finish the action. “Maybe... more than friends by now?”

She didn't get a chance to finish the sentence or the approach. Chloe cut her off by tackling her down onto her back, kissing her hungrily on the lips. There was no conversation after that. The two of them just let years and years of pent up feelings emerge and flourish. Without warning, Chloe started tugging at Max's clothes, pulling them away from her body with an enthusiasm she'd assumed was reserved only for performing. This was new for Max, but she made sure to give very explicit consent. She had been ready for this for ages.

“God dammit I love you so fucking much...” she muttered, practically growling, as she lightly sunk her teeth into Max's neck.

Gasping softly, her back arching, she scratched gently at her back. “I love you so fucking much too...” she responded through breathy laughter. She made a mental note to thank Rachel before it got too much harder to think. Chloe was... unsurprisingly aggressive, and conscious thought was becoming impossible.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Kate paced her room, sighing dramatically. She pressed the button on her phone, only to be struck with another wave of nerves and let the screen shut off again. She repeated this process more times than she cared to count or admit. It was just a phone call, why was that so hard? Well, the answer to that was obvious of course. Because her intention was to call Victoria, and her reasoning was fuzzy at best. It wasn't a lie, not really. She actually did feel a little bit like a poser, joining up with a bunch of punk rockers. And as far as she had gathered, Victoria had also been pretty far from that aesthetic before playing with Chloe and Rachel. So it made sense for her to ask the other girl for advice.

But the far more accurate reason was also the more embarrassing. She simply found Victoria to be fascinating, and beautiful, and kind of terrifying when she got going on her drums. And she wanted to know her better. So, here she was.

In the end, it was only through sheer force of will that she pulled up Victoria on her contact list and actually called. The ringing went on just long enough that she thought she might get the voice mail when she suddenly heard her. “Kate?”

“Hey, Victoria. I was hoping I could maybe pick your brain about something?”

“Yeah, shoot.” Ugh, she was just so casual and cool! How did she pull that off??

“Oh, well I was thinking that maybe we could meet up for a drink. It might take a little while.” She hesitated slightly. Wouldn't taking up too much of her day kinda make Victoria's impression of her worsen? “Uh, no pressure or hurry though. Just... whenever you've got the chance.”

She heard some soft laughter from the other end of the line. “It's okay, I can pencil you in tonight~” Her voice lilted ever so slightly in a way that Kate desperately wished was flirtatious, but was almost definitely not. “Gotta be honest, didn't take you for the type to go out and drink, Church Mouse.”

Her face flushed in an instant, and she had to clear her throat while she tried to find her voice again. “W-Well, I'm not really a partier, but I like to just relax, go out and about every now and then.”

Victoria laughed once again. “Alright, consider me intrigued. I'll text you a place to meet. See you at... seven? Or we could make it six and get dinner while we're a it.”

Oh dear lord in heaven above, she nearly died right then and there. “Uh, yes, dinner would be great! Six it is. I will ah... I'll see you then. B-Bye!” She quickly hung up, and then proceeded to spend the next several minutes laying on her bed with her face buried in her pillows. This was going to be an absolute disaster.

The only reason she didn't sink any further into her embarrassment and frustration was her usual savior, Max. There was a knock at the door, followed by a familiar voice. “Hey, I'm going to go grab some Del Taco. You wanna come?”

She scrambled to get up and answer. “Y-Yeah! Yeah Del Taco sounds good.”

The look on Max's face said it all. She must have been reading her like a book. “Woah, are you okay? You look uh... flustered.”

“Um...” She hesitated for a moment, but then she remembered that this was her partner and friend. They'd known one another for years now, and if anybody would understand, it would be Max. “I suppose I sort of just made plans for tonight with... Victoria.”

Max lit up almost immediately with a dramatic gasp. “Finally!! Oh my god, come on, you can tell me everything on the way~”

Kate whimpered as she trailed after her out to her car. So this was happening now. “Well, so I've been kind of feeling a little bit unsure about some of this new stuff. I don't think it's a huge shock to say that I'm not all that familiar with the punk scene. And Chloe mentioned that Victoria was kind of a princess when they first met. I thought if anybody might have some advice about how to get more into it, she would.”

She fired up the car and started pulling out of their parking spot, quickly casting a sidelong glance at her with a pleased little smirk. “And no other reason?”

“Oh lord, am I that obvious?” Kate groaned and rubbed her face with her hands, turning her attention out the window to avoid that grin. “Yes, I suppose that there was perhaps a... minor... ulterior motive. N-Nothing crass! I just want to get to know her better...” Ugh, that was particularly weak.

Things were quiet for a moment as they drove along, when Max suddenly cleared her throat softly. “Since you ah... shared something with me, I guess it's only fair that I do the same, y'know?” Another pause. “Chloe and I hooked up the other night. W-Well, that makes it sound like a fling. It definitely wasn't a fling. We're... I... I love her. I've loved her for a long time. And some of the thanks goes to Rachel. So maybe now it's my turn to help you.”

That finally caught her attention, and she glanced back over at Max. “What do you mean?”

“It's not my place to say this for absolute certain, but I don't think you have anything to worry about. I may or may not have caught Victoria staring at you a few times. In a good way. So just play it cool tonight. Be your usual charming self. I'm sure it'll go fine.” She chuckled softly as she made a slow turn with the car. “I uh... won't be around the apartment tonight, if that helps at all.”

Kate gasped and reached out, slapping her lightly on the shoulder. She wasn't sure if she felt more embarrassed for the implication that Max was going to spend another night with Chloe, or that she wanted Kate to bring Victoria home with her.

* * *

It was a really, really good thing that Kate had decided to look up the address that Victoria had sent her. The restaurant was nice – not $100 plate fancy, but way nicer than anything she initially had in mind. It also served to prove her point that the other girl had a taste for the finer things.

Even so, she felt under-dressed in her sweater and skirt. There were men here in pretty nice suits, and women wearing dresses. Most notable was Victoria, who had already gotten them a table. She still had that bleached hair that stood out a little in a restaurant like this, but her black dress turned it from a punk aesthetic into more of a millennial heiress one. Victoria smiled as she drew closer, her chin resting in one hand, waving lightly with the other.

She stepped nervously over to the table, smiling. “I have to say, I'm a little surprised...” Kate moved to sit down, at which point her companion stood up fluidly and moved over to pull the chair out for her.

“What can I say? I read the room and took a gamble. So tell me, did it pay off?” She moved back to her own chair and sat down as well.

“I'm not sure if I understand the question.”

“Never mind. Sometimes I just like to talk to hear my own voice. You'll get used to knowing which comments are important and which aren't.”

That answered pretty much nothing. Despite the lovely atmosphere and the fact that Victoria was here at all, Kate still wasn't certain what to even consider this little meal. She could feel her nerves creeping up and she quickly reached for the drink menu. “I could use a little something, I think...”

For the next while, things were relatively normal. Their waiter took their orders and they spent some time in idle conversation, mostly discussing how things had gone with their respective performing careers prior to coming to LA. Kate was feeling pretty nervous about it all, between getting dinner and drinks with a pretty woman, and the inevitable price tag for all of this, and feeling under-dressed. Which wasn't really served well by a moment later by Victoria suddenly zeroing in on her with that cheshire smile. “So, you said you wanted to pick my brain. What about?”

“R-Right. So, it's pretty obvious you don't come from a punk background. After all, just look around, you're clearly at-home here. And I don't really know how it is you do that. Oscillating between different worlds.” It was useful that this was actually a concern of hers. It made it easier to push aside whatever this stupid crush was.

Victoria just kept smiling at her smoothly. “Oh, it's easy. I don't.”

“Wait what...?” Her head cocked to the side. “I-I mean you do? Chloe is very punk, and so is Rachel. And Max is like... kind of a soft punk hippie?? But look at me, how am I ever going to pull that stuff off? How do you do it one moment, then look so glamorous the next?” That last bit had slipped out a little too easily and she could feel that blush returning once again.

If she noticed this, she didn't let it show. “Oh, Kate, you're somehow managing to massively complicate things while simultaneously completely missing all nuance...” The look on her face might have been infuriating if it weren't also rather beautiful. “There's no such thing as real punk. It's all just... rebellion, and loud music, and fashion. And I _know_ fashion. Sure, Chloe is punk through and through. Rachel is honestly more grunge than anything. Put Max in a t-shirt and jeans, give her a leather jacket, she'll be golden. I take a little here from Japanese punk, a little more here from pastel punk, another bit from whatever looks amazing.”

Kate was stunned. Victoria had put so much thought into all of this. And while she didn't completely follow, for a moment her desire to explore a romantic interest was replaced by a legitimate fascination with this particular conversation. “Hmm, okay, but then... I guess we can start with the fashion and work on the other stuff from there?” Her lips slowly sunk into a small pout. “But I have no idea where to even start. I've never been terribly fashion-minded.”

This girl had a way of looking at you intently, but now she was seriously analyzing Kate. “Maybe, but you do have an accidental aesthetic going on. I might have to give it some more thought, though. In the meantime, would you do me a favor?”

Something about that open-ended request set her heart fluttering. “Eh, sure. What is it?”

“Let me see your hair out of that trademark bun of yours?” Her cheeks continued to grow more red as she took down her hair, fluffing it out slightly. She hastily reached for her wine and drank deep as Victoria continued to study her. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I can do something for you.” She took her own glass of alcohol and sipped it slowly. “So I guess it's true then. You and Max are thinking about joining the band. Or I guess we'll make a new band together. Pretty exciting, huh?”

Kate's initial reaction was to put her hair back up out of her face. But Victoria seemed to appreciate the way it looked for the moment, so she left it alone instead. “Yeah, I think we are. Though we might still keep Syrinx and Echo as a side-project.”

“Good. It's important to have hobbies,” she said mysteriously with a playful wink.

* * *

When their meal was done, Victoria covered the bill without letting her see it, then offered to give Kate a ride home. And despite her intense nerves, she agreed. Her car was naturally fancy, and the music she played was surprisingly low-key. After pulling up to the curb, Kate went to get out, only to look over and see that Victoria was joining her in walking up to the door. Her chest started to feel a little tighter as she tried and failed to decide what to do. She did want to see more of her companion, but she didn't want to make it seem like this entire night was just a facade. “Well, this is me~” Kate, you couldn't be more cliched right now if you tried.

Luckily, Victoria laughed at that, and she didn't get the sense it was malicious. “So it is. I had a great time tonight, Church Mouse.” There was that nickname again. Kate idly messed with her hair as they stepped in front of the door and faced each other.

“I really appreciate all the advice, Victoria. I think-”

Any further attempts at offering appreciation were swiftly cut off when Victoria leaned in to kiss her gently on the lips. “Not just advice. I told you, I know fashion. When you have some free time, we're going shopping, and I'm gonna help you put together the perfect look. Well... a _more_ perfect look anyway. Ta~”

She headed for the car before Kate could give a more coherent response. Kate was ready to go burrow into her bed and have a proper freakout for the next hour or so.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Victoria dragged her feet into the apartment. The date, such as it was, went pretty much perfectly. But she had begun to realize on the drive home that she had basically wasted all of her flawless moves on this one meal together. But between promising to give Kate some fashion help, and playing music with her all the time, it was going to become obvious almost instantly that she wasn't actually as cool as she pretended. And that gnawing terror had knocked all the wind out of her sails.

It didn't really help that she had just walked in the front door to find Chloe making out with her friend Max. “Bout damn time...” she muttered as she went into the kitchen to fetch one of her many bottles of wine. She strolled back out, not bothering to use a glass, making her way for one of the chairs. Victoria wasn't even looking in the others' direction as she stole the remote and started scanning Netflix.

Chloe shot her full of daggers from where she lay underneath Max. “Uh, can we help you, Vicky?”

“I'm not going anywhere, so if you guys wanna keep making out, you're gonna have to do it in the privacy of Chloe's... den.”

She could see Max sitting up a bit with a look of legitimate concern on her face. Ugh, that girl wore everything so plainly. “Wait, did... things not go well tonight?”

“No!” she responded with a dramatic flail, then quickly took another big swig of her wine. “Worse, it went perfectly!” The plebeians just stared at her in confusion. “Ugh, I still wasn't sure if things were going to work out, so I used up like... all of my repertoire to be sure. So right now, she thinks I'm super awesome and mysterious. And next time she's going to realize it was all an act! I fucked myself!!”

She could see them sharing significant glances in her peripheral vision, which didn't make her feel any better. Chloe was the first to speak up. “This is Kate we're talking about, right? You really think she's gonna care how _cool_ you are?”

“Wait! What do you mean 'next time'??”

“Well obviously I made plans with her to go out some time and do some shopping. And then I kissed her good night and came back here.”

Chloe slapped herself in the forehead and groaned. “I swear, you are the goddamn dumbest... She agreed to go out with you again and let you kiss her?? What could you possibly have to be worried about??”

Pouting, she got another big gulp from her bottle. “Because what do I even have left after this?”

“Wow, is this what she's actually like? Gotta be honest, didn't see this one coming...” Max mused quietly, though she didn't keep her voice nearly as quiet as she thought she had. “Victoria, you're beautiful, fashionable, talented, and smart. And you didn't hear it from me, but Kate is crazy about you. Literally just... go shopping with her and everything will be fine. It literally cannot be any simpler than that.”

She let some time go by in silence, punctuated only by the occasional drink. “It would be a lot easier to take your advice if you weren't such assholes about it...”

* * *

Victoria sat behind the wheel of her car, occasionally glancing back toward Kate's apartment. This was happening. It was actually happening. Even if it felt like she was still totally lacking in any kind of moves. So now what, she had to charm Kate with her winning personality? Anybody with eyes could see that she just had a series of masks that she substituted in for a real personality.

She saw her walk out and felt that familiar sensation of her heart leaping up into her throat. Kate was wearing those adorable church lady clothes and giving her a friendly little wave. Popping into the passenger seat, she offered a winning smile. “Alright, so! Shopping trip?”

“Shopping trip!” she replied, as cheerfully as she could, considering how freaked she felt.

“You said you had some ideas about how to help me?”

_Yes, that's it, remember what the assholes told you. Focus on stuff you know. Just... go for it._ “Yeah, so you have your own style, and if I tried to just force something on you that didn't fit, it would make you feel awkward, and it wouldn't work at all. So instead, we're going to find clothes that suit your style, and then I'll give them some hack and slash alterations to adjust them for a punk show setting.”

She looked quite impressed with that, her face glowing like always. “Wow, you weren't kidding, you really know what you're doing! This is great~” Kate glanced out the window with a happy sigh. “Do you think we should come up with a new name for the band? I'd feel bad, though, taking away the history of American Rust so swiftly.”

Jeez, did she have to be so sweet about every little thing? “Oh, n-no, I mean we stole the name from a local garbage dump anyway. I'm sure we'll figure something out. Anyway, this is no big deal. This is what I do.”

“And she's so humble to boot!” Kate giggled again, and Victoria could just see her glancing over in the corner of her eye. Was this... actually working? Did those idiots actually know what they were talking about?

* * *

“I'm going to be honest, I don't really understand what we're doing here. This stuff is really cute, but I feel like wearing any of this will make me stand out like a sore thumb!” Kate pouted adorably as she fiddled with an infinity scarf. “Mm, no offense or anything! I just don't understand...”

Her anxiety about all this was charming, albeit unintentionally. She smiled at her in a way she hoped would be comforting. “I told you, none of that matters as long as you play well. Plus you'll have the rest of us there with you to give you the cred you need.” In a city like LA, it wasn't hard to find a store that sold mori-style clothes. She picked up a flowy, asymmetrical skirt and looked it over. “All that being said, I swear I'll either make this work, or I'll help set you up with a truly awesome outfit that's a little more traditional. That's a Chase promise.”

Her face lit up once again and she nodded her head, as if suddenly coming to a decision. “Alright. Then I guess let's do it!”

For the next few minutes, Victoria was very 'on'. She went from here to there, grabbing things seemingly at random and handing them to Kate, whose pile of options was growing progressively more massive. Their path eventually led them around to the dressing rooms, and she gestured to it grandly. “Alright, let's start with that skirt, the darker top, and that scarf.”

“Sure thing~” She slid back into one of the rooms, shutting it securely. It was a few minutes later when she emerged, somehow managing to look even more adorable than she was expecting. She even gave a freaking twirl, causing all the various loose pieces of her ensemble to flow around her in an incredibly delightful manner. “Well, even if the punk thing doesn't work out, I have to say I still really like this stuff...”

“Yeah, and just imagine how good it's going to look after a few alterations. I can wait to rip these clothes off...”

Kate's eyes flew open wide, her entire face turning a deep shade of red. Victoria could practically feel the heat radiating off of her. “I-I'm sorry?”

_Okay. Don't panic. You just said the stupidest thing you possibly could in this situation. Technically speaking, she doesn't look mad yet. Just play it cool. Everything is fine. However you're also just standing there saying nothing so you should probably fix that right fucking now or she's really going to be freaked out._ “...up. To... to rip these clothes up. Give them the punk treatment. Y'know?” She shrugged her shoulders and slowly adjusted her footing, knowing full well that this was a major fuck-up.

Kate joined her in awkward fumbling for a few terrible seconds before slowly inching her way back toward the dressing room. “Well, it-it sounds like... like we have what we need! So! I'm going... to go now. And get changed again. And then. We... can go!” She nearly stumbled as she disappeared behind the door. Victoria could hear the distinct sound of hands fumbling for the locking mechanism.

* * *

Things were painfully awkward as they wrapped up their shopping trip. Victoria insisted on paying for it, and Kate didn't seem to have the energy to fight her on it. Other than that brief back-and-forth, they were completely quiet – which was not at all a pleasant experience. She just wanted to apologize, to explain herself, but to put any reasoning to her behavior would just make things worse.

They made it all the way back to Kate and Max's apartment before anyone said anything. “Victoria... I'm not really the type to just hop into bed with somebody right away. Or... well, I mean, I'm pretty sure. Growing up in a strict household can make things confusing. A-Anyway, I don't want to hurt your feelings accidentally here! I like you, but it's going to take some time before I'm going to be comfortable with you... ripping my clothes off...”

She was stunned at first. It sounded like Kate was attempting to let her down, but also... it didn't. Like she started off trying to avoid her freudian slip before taking a hard left. “...wait, 'some time'?”

“Well yeah, like a couple months, at least. That's not a deal-breaker is it??”

Her head was spinning slightly. As if an entire conversation had happened without her knowledge. “We need to back up. You were... shocked by what I said, but not necessarily upset about the general implications of it?”

“Yeah?”

“Was this a date??”

“You... You kissed me the other day!” she squeaked nervously. “I sort or thought that was tacit admission of... of something!”

“It was!” she said back, just as anxiously. This had become absolutely ridiculous. “But I wasn't sure you picked up on it, and I didn't know how to ask!”

“I couldn't be sure either, b-but then you were looking at me like that and you said the thing about ripping my clothes off and... well it seemed more clear at that point.”

Slumping down in her seat, Victoria let out a long, low sigh, staring up at the roof of her car. “I'm a freaking idiot... I was losing my mind for no reason. You just looked incredible and I was so excited that I ran my mouth off. I would never push you into doing something you don't want to do. I-If you prefer to take things slow, that's totally fine.” She ran her fingers through her hair a few times, getting out one more belabored sigh. “Can we just... watch a movie or something and forget about all this awkwardness?”

* * *

“Why would you show me this?? My life will never know peace after this moment...” Kate was pouting adorably as she watched the video playing on her tablet. “This girl is so much better than I will ever be, and she does it while dancing!”

Victoria grinned wickedly, leaning her head lightly against Kate's shoulder. She might have been feeling like a crazy person earlier, but now things were just... nice. She was happy to have 'nice' for a while. Even if Kate was feigning offense at learning about the existence of Lindsey Sterling. “Nonsense. You have talent and rhythm and I totally think you should give it a shot some time! Plus, I think this kinda stuff is super attractive~” There it was, the more familiar Victoria purr. Snickering, she kissed her glowing red cheek.

“Well. I guess it might be worth trying out. But if I suck at it, I want you to be honest with me!”

She snickered again, nuzzling her lightly. “I promise~”

 


End file.
